Need for more childcare workers

[Anchor]

For women balancing childcare and work, there is nothing more troubling than being called into work on a holiday or having to work overtime.

They have to immediately find child-care.

This is why 24-hour care centers operated by some local governments are popular, but there is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed.

Park Min-kyung reports.

[Report]

Children are gathered together, drawing pictures.

Even though it is Labor Day, nearly twenty children have been left at the care center.

Because it is not a legal holiday, there are many parents working.

[Lee Jeong-pyo/Icheon City, Gyeonggi Province: "Since it is Labor Day, most daycare centers are closed, but due to our circumstances as dual-income parents, adjusting our work schedules is difficult..."]

The 24-hour care center that Icheon City started operating through consignment since last March is very popular among parents who need urgent child-care.

Parents with children under 12 can use it for a very low cost of 1,000 won per hour.

It has also been a great help to parents of multiple children who have had to go to the hospital emergency room late at night.

[Kim Seung-hyun/Icheon City, Gyeonggi Province: "My eldest child was sick and needed to go to the emergency room, but taking the second child along, there would be other patients, and I didn't want to cause a commotion..."]

There are a total of 8 caregivers at this care center.

Since they work in pairs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in three shifts, the caregivers are expressing their difficulties.

[Choi Eun-sae/Caregiver at Icheon City 24-Hour Child Care Center: "(The three-shift schedule) is still foreign, so the caregivers complain about their sleep schedule. If there were sufficient substitute teachers, it would run more smoothly."]

Over the past year, 7 caregivers have quit, making it difficult to secure staff.

[Kim Ji-soo/Director of Icheon City 24-Hour Child Care Center: "The night shifts are the hardest. You can't sleep, and when you finish work in the morning, you have to rest for a day and then go back to work right away. So many people end up quitting."]

Gyeonggi Province is increasing the number of daycare centers that can care for children 24 hours from 5 locations to 11.

There are calls to expand support for caregivers to improve the low birth rate situation.

This is KBS News, Park Min-kyung.